The Marrakech-Agadir train project is a royal directive and a popular regional demand.

Agadir24

Mr. President..
Since I am not present within the constitutional spaces related to communicating with the Presidency of the Government through questions, accountability and inquiries, I find the pages of this open letter to you a suitable and appropriate space for the feelings of destruction and sorrow of us, the residents of Agadir and the Souss region in general, upon the spread of the news of postponing the Marrakech-Agadir train project until after the 2030 World Cup, as stated in FIFA’s publications at the time of presenting the data specific to the Kingdom of Morocco.

The news was a shock… as this exclusion was never expected at all… rather, it increased our certainty about the opportunity of this triple World Cup as a motivational factor after Agadir was chosen among the World Cup cities…
Let us ask today about our right, we the residents of the area beyond the railway, about our right to a piece of the World Cup cake, like the rest of the major Moroccan cities.
Nothing, Mr. President, other than preparing the surroundings of Adrar Stadium, 15 years after its construction.
No extra stadium to speak of.. Even the hotels and restaurants were chosen outside the city..
Nothing to mention.. and the numbers on the roadside..

We were hoping and optimistic about the Marrakech-Agadir train project, which is considered a royal directive in the 2019 Green March speech, and with a clear strategic vision of the importance of this project as an orbital point between the north and the south, as well as the east and the west, considering that Agadir is the center of the kingdom. A royal speech with a roadmap open to all the benefits of this project at all economic and social levels and other multiple humanitarian services, until it was said directly after His Majesty’s speech that achieving this railway project is like a path to unity in another form.

This is clearly evident, Mr. President, through the interaction of the Moroccan and foreign media with this royal directive to His Majesty’s government, such that the number of news and analytical articles at the time reached more than 245.
The counter of thinking and preparation for the completion of the project has started…and it has even become the subject of discussion within the House of Representatives. I present to you an answer by Mr. Amara, the former minister, in response to an oral question in the House of Advisors “about linking the regions.”
South by rail

(..that a similar line that will link the cities of Marrakech and Agadir will require 50 billion dirhams,
Rather, there is progress in the work of this project at the level of detailed technical studies.
To wake up days later to find everything evaporating… and we wonder with a lump in our throat about the reasons for burying this project that we consider a priority above all priorities.
By all standards, and most importantly
His Majesty the King’s speech related to the subject in relation to this arrangement of our country’s geography and considering Agadir as the link between our kingdom.
This project is also a regional demand and a right of spatial justice and fair distribution of state benefits to the regions with an exceptional privilege for the Souss-Massa region, which has suffered from development delays compared to the rest of the Moroccan cities.
In light of all this information, Mr. President, we hope that the situation will be addressed, especially since all the studies are on the shelf… Rather, we want to achieve this railway project by overcoming the issue of constraints whenever it concerns the Souss-Massa region… and there are many examples…
We are facing the road of unity towards the south – Africa after our ancestors lived the road of unity towards the north and by the way it is the name of a road in the Kingdom of Morocco that was established in 1957, at the suggestion of the martyr Mehdi Ben Barka, and its construction was ordered by the late Mohammed V, in a speech he addressed to gather young volunteers from different parts of Morocco, aiming to connect the city of Taounate and Ketama along 80 km, and it was called the road of unity, as the goal of the project was practical, symbolic and political, indicating the connection between the northern regions, which belonged to the Spanish protectorate, and the south, which belonged before independence to the French protectorate
Therefore, the project towards the south came framed by the discourse of the development process as part of this pioneering Moroccan renaissance.
We hope, Mr. Prime Minister, that your visit to Agadir as mayor of this city will bring news of the resumption of work on the development train towards the south.
I hope that’s your mark before you go…
History has a memory…
Best regards, Mr. President.

Youssef Gharib – Agadir.